This quest takes place in the DC Universe with characteristics mainly pulled from the animated TV series and films. You are Battery, a teen recently brought in to HIVE Academy by Brother Blood after having seen your powers in action. Here you will learn how to successfully become a full-fledged villain, but you also hope to find some answers for your robotic origin. Recently, you've enlisted the help of Cheshire; a deadly assassin who was hired to kill you, but now plans on working with you to fight your old gang. You weren't planning on taking them over, but you can't afford to have them chasing after you while you're with HIVE.

Rules -15 Minute voting period after each post-Some actions (typically combat choices against non-generic enemies and certain social situations) will require 3 D100 rolls, using the best of the 3 rolls for said action.-Critical successes/failures are 100/1

“Okay, so...” Control Freak begins, his words near incomprehensible as he speaks through a mouth full of reheated pizza.“Your suit is controlled by that belt buckle, but you probably already knew that from watching the show. The suit can be stored and transferred out of it through the switches on the top, but seeing how you walked in here naked I wouldn't do that... Heh.”He punctuates his information with a loud belch, gaining a disgusted sigh from the impatient Tamaranian waiting by the door. “Can we hurry this geek babble up? We got classes to take, Freak.” Blackfire nags, folding her arms in front of her ample chest. “R-right... Listen, if you damage the suit, it'll repair itself if you store it for a few hours. Whatever you do, don't lose that belt!” Control Freak warns as he sinks back into his desk chair, the furniture straining under his bulbous form.You thank him for the info, turning to leave with Blackfire as Control Freak suddenly lets out a surge of questions.“S-So are you two dating now, or is this a platonic thing? Blackfire? Come on, I was just writing a Tamaranian poem to seranade you wi-”

His plea is cut short by the shutting of his door, prompting Blackfire to let out a sigh of relief.“He needs to learn to shut up. I can't believe you actually indulged him in his nerd garbage. I didn't think you were the type, Battery...”You can tell her words are more of a teasing nature than a berating one, but you're too preoccupied with something else on your mind.You look through your visor at your hand, trying to process what you went through back there.What exactly did you experience? How did you learn a fighting style like that? Did Control Freak's remote cause it? What else is hiding in you?Your concentration is broken by a gentle hand on your shoulder, causing you to look at the somewhat concerned face of Blackfire.“Hey, you okay? I can't really see your face, but you seem like something's bothering you.”

A: “I'm fine. Just thinking of what class I should take today.”

B: “I was thinking about what I went through back there. It was weird, and I'm worried about what else I'm hiding from myself.”

C: “It's nothing. You know, you shouldn't be so mean to Control Freak. He seems alright, just desperate.”

D: “I was thinking about how touchy-feely you got with me back there. I thought you didn't want to make things weird.”

>>1716080>B: “I was thinking about what I went through back there. It was weird, and I'm worried about what else I'm hiding from myself.”>A: “I'm fine. Just thinking of what class I should take today.”

>>1716080>B: “I was thinking about what I went through back there. It was weird, and I'm worried about what else I'm hiding from myself.”>Like what if I accidentally toggle a self destruct protocol and accidentally the city?

>B: “I was thinking about what I went through back there. It was weird, and I'm worried about what else I'm hiding from myself.”>Maybe there's a bomb in me and someone says fucking kumquat and I explode like a nuke

“I was thinking about what I went through back there. It was weird, and I'm worried about what else I'm hiding from myself.”

Blackfire frowns, stroking down the length of your shoulder to try and give some form of comfort.“I guess that's kind of heavy. I'm not going to lie and say I get what you're going through, but maybe you should be less worried? Whatever happened, it was progress, right? At least you are finding these things out.”“I guess,” You say, giving yourself another once-over before facing Blackfire again.“But what if I accidentally blow up and nuke the city or something?”Blackfire removes her hand and puts it to her lips, muffling some laughter.“Dude, come on. You're being ridiculous now.”

You sigh. Maybe she's right. After all, why would someone create something like you include a feature like that? That'd be crazy to make something as advanced as you only to destroy it, right?You try to push the thought of your mind, dismissing it's absurdity. You thank Blackfire for helping you get your head straight, prompting her to shrug.“No biggie, but I think you should talk to Brother Blood about it. He's the teacher for robotics, so I'm pretty sure he's more qualified to help you than me.She has a point. Perhaps seeing Brother Blood and telling him what happened could be helpful. You were already considering seeing him about Cheshire anyway.However, part of you is curious about how well you can fight now. A quick visit to the Physical Combat Training classroom might not hurt.

A: Go see Brother Blood.

B: Go test out your new moves.

C: Maybe you should try to find Cheshire first, you've left her alone for quite a while.

D: Try to cut the classes and contact Cyborg about this. He might be more trustworthy than Blood.

You consider telling Blood everything for a moment, but curiosity gets the better of you. You want to know just what you can do with what you've learned, especially with this new costume.You're also wondering what Cheshire's been up to. You left her alone for a while, and you're hoping she hasn't gotten into any trouble since then.

You tell Blackfire you're considering going to the physical combat classes. You're eager to see what you're capable of now.“Oh, I'm headed that way as well. Want to walk with me?” She asks, the frown she had for you now turning into a friendly smile.

You nod, walking alongside her."This'll be fun. I've never seen you actually fight, only the aftermath of what you did to Adonis."She faces ahead as she struts, smirking at the thought of watching you in action

You're interested in seeing what she can do as well. You can assume that Blackfire is like her sister as far as her powers go, but you're curious to see what separates them both aside from their demeanor.

You quietly observe her as you make your way through the halls together. When you think about it, she's practically the polar opposite of Lady Black. You would almost consider Blackfire TOO friendly considering how she physically admired you in front of Control Freak, but maybe she was doing that for show.There's still a bit of distance before you reach class.

A: "So what's this class like?"

B: "Can I ask you something? Why have you been so nice to me?"

C: "I was wondering. Since you were all over me earlier, you wanna go out later?"

D: Try to hold her hand while you walk together.

[Internet still giving me trouble guys. Trying to work with using my phone for a hotspot.]

"Eh," Blackfire begins with a small shrug."It's practically an excuse to beat up on a student you don't like. 'Master' Katarou is a total blowhard that gives phoned in speeches and then makes us duke it out. He claims to have studied under someone called The One True Master, but I don't buy it."

You can't help but remark at how Blackfire seems to resent Katarou."I just have a respect for the arts of combat," She replies, sounding surprisingly dignified about the matter."Tamaran is a society of warriors. In fact, my sister and I studied under The Warlords of Okaara."A sinister smile spreads across her lips."And I was always the better fighter.

You both eventually reach the classroom, surprised it doesn't use the arena found in the gym.As you enter, you find yourself underwhelmed by the room itself. It's just a very spacious square with a giant mat built into the floor. However, those participating in the class do garner your interest. Sitting cross legged across the mat you see a mountainous in black looking student sitting next to Jinx and Red X. You figure that the red-headed beast of a man is in the HIVE Five with the other two. Between some other students, you see Kydd Wykydd greeting you with a nod.You follow Blackfire over to the group students and take a seat next to her, and as you do so your teacher enters the honey-combed dojo to introduce himself.

Katarou is a well built man, his defined muscles practically bursting from his black and red gi. His bald head is almost demonic in appearance, his flat nose and fearsome features highlighted by his raised collar.He strolls along the line of students with his hands behind his back, silently inspecting all of you. There is no introduction from him, he only breaks the deafening silence once he reaches you."You're the new one, yes? Choose your opponent."

You look over at Red X, the apparent top dog here. It's time you saw for yourself if he's the real deal.

"Him." You tell Katarou.

"Hmph. Proceed." Is all he tells you. Almost everyone looks at you like you're said something incredibly stupid. The exceptions being Kyd Wykydd's neutral expression and Blackfire's apparent concern. The sound of Red X's chuckling doesn't exactly boost your confidence either, but you don't falter. You're ready to take him on no matter what.

You both step onto the mat, your eyes never losing focus on the other."You sure you want to get embarrassed like this?" Red X asks, his grainy voice dripping with arrogance.You don't say anything as you raise your fists above your head and arch your right knee forward, adopting your new fighting stance. Electricity starts to crackle around you to signal you're ready."Your funeral." Red X responds as he readies himself.

"Fight!" Katarou calls out, and as he does so Red X is already darting towards you!

https://youtu.be/frlFRhOaRPw

A: Run towards him and attack with a jumping knee to the face!

B: Wait for him to get close, then halt him with an elbow to the face!

C: Put up your guard, try to observe how he fights!

D: Try to jump over him and strike the back of his head with your shin!

I think that with our newfound martial arts powers, we have a good shot at fighting X. Battery used to be strong but lacked in skills, with that new programming or whatever happened, surely we can deal with more skilled fighters like red X now

Let's analyze his fighting style and develop and appropiate counter stance. Also, to show that we are not a mere brute that just charges to rip and tear. Besides, Battery is made of tougher stuff, he can take a beating if it is to learn something new

You pull your arms close to you in a defensive stance, your eyes fiercely focusing on his movements.

Red X continues his incredibly fast advance, but completely voids your strategy as he jumps over you and presses something against your back.

You quickly turn to brace yourself for his next attack, but whatever was attached to your back detonates! You arch forward in pain, static flying off you as the insignia on the back of your suit is burnt and bellows smoke. You lurch forward for a moment, desperately trying to recover in time for Red X's next move.

Red X begins another advance towards you; this time with a “X” shaped blade growing from his right hand, it's sharp edges shimmering in the light!

A: Try and get a hold of the blade, then try to electrocute him through it!

B: Raise you left leg and crush his neck with your shin in a powerful kick!

C: Try to deliver a light flurry of blows to his torso to stun him for a moment, then make some space between you both!

D: Take the jacket off your suit and throw it in his face, then attack him while he's distracted!

Red X shoots his arm forward as you try to grab the blade, plunging it into your torso.You let out a pained scream, followed by some guttural noises as you start to slump forward, causing either Jinx or Blackfire to let out a frightened gasp. At least you assume it's one of them by how feminine it sounded.

“Damn, looks like it really is your funeral. Sorry about the mess, sensei.” You hear Red X remark, trying to pull the blade from your stomach. It doesn't budge. He tries to yank it again, but still nothing. You feel him grunt and tug with all his might, but he isn't going anywhere.“Ugh! Mammoth, get over here! I'm stuck in this guy's stomach or something.”

You wish he could see the shit-eating grin under your helmet.

You suddenly stand straight, holding the blade close to you as you reach a hand up towards the room's lights, getting ready to draw power.“GOTCHA!” You yell with excitement as power begins to surge towards you, the bolts popping several bulbs from the ceiling lights.The power shooting into you cause Red X to painfully vibrate as he's electrocuted, his pained sounds chattering as violently shakes.He's no amateur, though. Through the pain he manages to bring his left fist down onto the blade and smash it, cutting off the electric connection between you both as he jumps back.He lets out a few ragged breaths, shaking his head.“Haghh... Heh, not bad, Power Ranger.”

“It's Power-Rider, and my name is Battery.” You correct him, clenching your charged fist. The pain from the assault on your back is gone, and you return to your stance.

You bellow out a roar and vault over the wall of blades being tossed at you.As you soar, you begin to pull forward one of your legs, bolts starting crackle and travel up to the knee.

Red X tries to put his guard up, but it's too late as you crash your knee against his mask, the impact sending sparks flying as he recoils painfully backwards and slides across the mat.His body jerks forward to stop himself, falling to a knee and grunting.He looks up at you menacingly, his grainy voice coated in anger."Okay, fun's over. Time to put you in the infirmary for a few weeks!"He bolts upward, pulling two large Xs from behind his cape!

You get ready to try and sweep him when he tries to close the distance, but he suddenly stops and hurls both the Xs at you!

The first one grows as it travels towards you and wraps itself around your chest, locking your arms to your sides.The second slides under your legs and creates a smoke screen around you. Your vision is completely obscured by a thick cloud of darkness.

Suddenly you're hit with a flurry of blows from all sides. Kicks to your legs that cause you to buckle, punches that dart across your face from left to right and another barrage of Xs that detonate once they impact your body and tear your costume.

You're bound, beaten and you can't see your opponent. You have some power left in you, but the fight's looking bad.

A: Run out of the smoke. You can't make a decision if you can't see him!

>>1717070>EYour close your eyes and try to focus. You don't know if you can do this, but it's worth a shot.

You feel your body throb and pulses, feeling electricity dart and shoot around your body until there's only the faintest of tingles on your skin. It feels like every muscle in your body is going to burst as you try and contain your power, your face straining as you grit your teeth in extreme discomfort.The pressure going through every inch of you is almost unbearable, giving you the impression that you might've been right about accidentally exploding one day.

Suddenly you hear footsteps rushing towards you. You hope this works.

Your eyes shoot open in time to see Red X in front of you, a glowing X on the palm he was planning to smash into your face.

https://youtu.be/q8UyG3EOer8

You scream with fury as you finally release that pressure that's been tormenting you. A deafening crackle erupts as high voltage energy explodes from your body and nearly shreds Red X, sending him and the smoke far away from you. You watch as he flips over backwards like a rag doll, laying on the floor in a smoldering heap as parts of his cape catch fire.You nearly pass out as you fall to your knees, it feels like every ounce of life shout out of you. Your sweat and drool drip onto the mat as you try and recover, breathing heavily as you awkwardly try to stand. You moves your arms and notice that the X that trapped your upper body is now crumbling to black ash, giving you the ability to raise yourself back up with your arms.

You stagger and look over at Red X, and instantly feel whatever relief you had in you plummet to your bowels. Red X is staggering up just as you are. He's seems to be in just as bad as shape as you are.

“It's... Hah... Not over yet!”He stumbles, but he tries his best to rush towards you again, and you can only do the same!

>>1717189Red X brings out another X blade from his left hand and wildly slashes at your neck!You were almost surprised by sudden deadly move.Almost.

Red X lets out a grainy, ragged wheeze as your right leg kicks into his flank, causing him to stagger and fling the blade off it's course.You're enraged at his sudden will to try and kill you, and you can only respond with crushing his flank with another strong kick!“DAAGH!” You grunt, pulling back your leg for another kick!

You're kicks fire into his side like a machine gun, increasing speed with every excruciating blow to him. Red X can only respond by grunting and crying out in pain as your leg loudly cracks against him.You finish turning his ribs to dust, deciding to finally end this!You strike forward with both knees into his pectoral area, his chest impacted harshly with blows. He lets out a groan from behind his mask and starts to fall forward, but as he falls you bring your knee up into his face and your elbow into the back of his head!“DORYAA!” You cry out as you crack his skull and mask between your limbs, blood and fragments of the design falling to the floor, with Red X following after as he plummets face down.

You stare down at him for a moment as you pant tiredly, slowly turning your head to look at the other classmates.Everyone, even Katarou, is looking at you with their mouth open in shock.“Huh-Huhhh-Holy Shuhh-Shh-Shit!” You hear, even more shockingly, from Kydd Wykydd.

A: “You can talk?!”

B: Help Red X up.

C: “Does someone want to explain to me how this loser was allowed in HIVE Five?!”

>>1717308>D: “Did I pass for this semester, sensei?”Man these types of fights always bug me. Red X was the top of his class, the cream of the crop, and while we did get beat bad this was still pretty easy out of character.Too easy.Guess that's what happen when you have the favor of the dice gods.

>>1717374Fair enough I guess.It's just kinda, underwhelming I guess.It's cool that we won, but the fact that we were able to go for this place's best right off the bat, win, and reap all the reward on our like 3 day bugs me a bit.

You hold up your index finger at Kydd Wykydd, giving him a look of disbelief.“You can talk?!”

Kydd Wykydd just looks sadly down at his knees, then returns his gaze to you.“I didn't suh-say I c-c-cuh-couldn't talk. I said I w-wuh-was buh-bad at it. I have a st-st-stuh-”“He has a stutter.” Jinx quietly answers for him, staring at you in total shock still.You can't really find anything to say about that revelation, instead you simply shake your head before turning your attention to the beaten Red X on the floor.You begin to kneel down and lift his arm over your shoulder, helping him back up. Under the mask, Red X is just a kid your age. You look into his half open green eyes, partly obscurred with parted black hair drenched in sweat. All he can manage to do is wheeze and cough at your gesture.

As you raise him upright you try to tell him that it was a good fight, but you suddenly start feeling woozy and you almost lose your balance. You think you can make it to the infirmary with him, but then you hear the voice of HIVE's Headmaster call from the room's entrance.

“Mast Katarou, could I have a word with Battery? I'm afraid he's been...”You turn to look at him with Jason slung over you, your eyes going wide when you see Cheshire standing next to Brother Blood with her arms folded. Brother Blood's stern look quickly fades once he sees what you've done to his top student, while Cheshire only cocks an eyebrow as she tries to figure out what happened moments before she arrived.“Ohh shihhh...” Is all you can manage to say as you plummet forward with Red X, passing out from exhaustion.

>>1717400>>1717406>>1717410Yeah I understand that and that's really cool n junk, but my problem is with the pacing of key events in general. I don't know how to put it into words yet but i've shit up this thread with my opinions long enough, so I'll stop.

>>1717439No, I understand where you're coming from, but to be fair we made the choice to fight Red X of our own violation, and we made the rolls and choices necessary to beat him. Pacing is important sure, but remember this is a game, not a story, we're playing for the sake of furthering the MC's goals as well as we can, sometimes that means we as players take risks and forgo the pacing for the sake of our own development. That's just expected when you play a game like this, pacing really means nothing unless it's tightlocked by the QM, and that's almost never fun unless the QM is just that good of a QM with a well planned, adaptable session.

Pretty much this. Som's dragon ball quest comes to mind when I think about that. We had cool shit like beating major villains single handed but we also had hilarious shit like losing and even dying against a no name fighter in a tournament

>>1717413You feel something brush gently through your hair and down the side of your face, causing you to stir.Your vision is blurry, but soon you find it regaining focus as your look up into the violet eyes of Blackfire. She's sitting next to you on what you assume is a bed, smiling down at you kindly as she delicately strokes your face.“Welcome back.” She greets you in a low tone, taking her hand away from your scalp and placing it on her lap.You try to sit up, but she gently eases you back down.“Woah, Battery... Take it easy. According to Brother Blood, you used up part of your body's natural power sources for that electronic-pulse you did. You need rest...”You tiredly mumble a question about where you are, trying to look around. All you can see are Blackfire and the honeycomb patterns of the ceiling, which doesn't offer much indication.“Your room. Blood said that you probably don't have any physical injuries, just exhausted.”You continue questioning, asking why she's here with you.“Because I asked to be in here in case you woke up. I also fought for you back there... Battery, you're in a really weird situation. On one hand, Blood seems to be unhappy about that assassin of yours being brought here, but on the other hand... You just beat Red X.”Blackfire's expression starts fill with excitement as she leans in closer to you.“I don't care if it was a fluke, but a total rookie like you took on the school's top student! Do you know what that could mean for you? For us?”She brings her hands back down to your face, placing them gently on your cheeks has she cradles your head in her palms.“Blood was going to put you through some punishment for bringing that killer in here, but I stressed how important it was for someone as fresh as you to topple the school's ranks like that.”She lowers her eyelids, looking off to the side.“Battery... I need you to do something for me. Blood wants to talk to you about everything, but if he mentions anything about joining HIVE Five... Please, get us both to join.”

>>1717531>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.

>>1717531>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.

>>1717531>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.

>>1717543>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.

>>1717531>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.

>>1717531>>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun

>>1717596>She's totally trying to use us for her own gain.What tipped that off to you m8? Honestly guys we should in fact help her into HIVE Five, if only to isolate her from us. She's bad news all around and is not something worth pursuing.

>>1717531>>>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>>>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun

>>1717626>letting yourself be chained down by such titles >letting yourself have to learn dynamics and synergy with 4 other supposed top students>letting yourself basically being an attack dog kill team to Brother BloodWe joined this place for answers mainly, a place to belong secondly.

>>1717626Deal with the gang first and get good. Also it's the equivalent of a super popular kid's club. We don't want to leave the city because we need to deal with our old gang first, and frankly we have no chemistry with them.

>>1717626The way i see it is that joining the Hive Five will make us deal with doing more missions, less time to actually get our shit organized, and we already have our old gang thats right up on our ass constantly.

If it'll be like the last mission they'll send in more assassins at us, even while on missions. So best to take care of that now than later.

>>1717642It's kind of a false premise that joining the hive five means we won't be able to do anything else but whatever. Joining the hive five will increase our standing with hive and increase the likelihood of us getting help with figuring out our origin

>>1717531>>>C: “I don't care about joining HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”>>>F. I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun

You smile at her, shaking your head as best as you can despite how sore you feel.“I don't care about HIVE Five, Blackfire. I'll tell him to just let you on.”You turn your head back to the ceiling, your smile turning into a more serious expression.“I have too much too learn and an old gang to get off my back, violently, before I can even consider the Hive Five. You've been chill, have fun.”

Everything's quiet for a moment. You look over at Blackfire to see her look gloomily into her lap, her hands balling up on her knees.“Would you really do that for someone like me?” She softly asks, her eyes filling with more sorrow as the question escapes her lips.“Sure... Why not?” You ask, taken back at the sight of the once confident alien now looking woeful.

Blackfire doesn't say anything. Her sad eyes just look back at you, focused on your confused look. She suddenly moves towards you and slowly leans in closer, gently resting her head and chest on you as she carefully embraces you around your neck.“Thank you, Battery... Not only are you getting me closer to destroying my sister, but you're being so sweet to me...”

Your arms are sore, but you manage to raise them up and return the gesture, gently squeezing the girl with a hug of your own.She lets out a happy little laugh, nuzzling her head under your chin.“Mmm...” Is all she lets out as her smiling face rests under yours. You can't help but share the same expression.“No sweat. Now, go get the Headmaster so I can get you on there.”She slowly nods, reluctantly parting ways with the embrace as she looks down at you.“Alright... Hey, if I get on HIVE Five, don't become a stranger. For the first time in a while, I'm worried I'll have Rekma, especially if we don't keep in contact over this... Let's hang out sometime, alright?”You nod, watching her blow a kiss at you as the door slides open. It's nice to see her happy, but you hope you can actually convince Blood to let her on. You also wonder what a Rekma is.

A few moments pass before your door slides open again. Looking over you see Brother Blood staring ahead from the door way. He calmly enters the room, keeping his eyes off of you until he finally sits down in your room's desk chair, rolling it to your bedside.The delighted and father-like demeanor Brother Blood carried with him has vanished. Just from looking at him you can see the face of a man who looks at you like one would look at a chess piece. He's not here to talk to a disobedient kid, he's here to make a decision that will affect him more than it will you. His gaze is forbidding, and his eyes seem to stare straight through you. The silence between you both lingers for so long that you could swear it's starting to suffocate you.He finally breaks the silence with a question.

That's all for this week! Thanks you to all the anons who participated today! I appreciate you guys sticking with me even though I was having horrible issues with my ISP. Hopefully it won't happen again.

If you haven't done it yet, consider following my twitter so you can keep up to date with the quest schedule and when it goes live! I promise next thread I'll remember to put it in the OPhttps://twitter.com/MachPunchQM

>>1717878I'll go on ahead and say that Starfire doesn't know Blackfire is on Earth. Might make for a nasty surprise later.

>>1717881>>1717893I'd say now she's being straightforward, before she had some ulterior reasons for being around you, but you probably figured that already. She might've been trying to manipulate you, but you ended up just offering what she wanted. Even if you don't manage to get her on, I think the sincerity behind a gesture would be enough to leave an impression.It's like >>1717903 said. Tamaranians seem to be very emotional from what I've read, especially in regards to friendships. Blackfire struck me as someone who never experience a real friendship, so that factored in as well.

>>1717903She's not mentally deficient, just selfish and angry. And, manipulation or not, she's pretty clearly fond of Battery, even if it's just because he's strong, fond of violence, and follows her around without being a creep.

>>1717925It would be hilarious if Battery managed to pull the same trick on Starfire as he did on Cyborg.

>>1717881Relief. I didn't want the fight to end in an anti-climatic defeat after the insane build up from all the high rolls. Red-X is probably the strongest side-villain in the original Teen Titans, since he could go toe to toe with the entire team and get his thing done. Though his actual skill was on par with Robin, and his suit is the only other thing that really gave him an advantage.

>>1717846She’s Tamaranian, they’re more casual about that kind of physical affection. It’s part of the appeal.

That said, she’s also a manipulator, and while a kiss doesn’t mean much to her (see our first meeting) she’s aware of what it means to us. We’ve done a pretty good job at accepting her closeness without pushing any expectations on her so far.

She’s ex-royalty from a race of space warriors, I’d wager she expects to be the one controlling the throttle on her relationship. We’re in her good books, things are fine.

What you should really worry about is what Baron Blood’s going to do. When we push Blackfire to take the open spot in the HIVE 5 while Red X is down, he’s going to see her as a handhold he can use to direct us. He’s going to want that, we’ve proven to be kind of difficult to control so far (between our power, Cheshire, and now dropping one of his elite students). I wager he also wants us on HIVE 5 so we’re putting that power to use for his benefit instead of further establishing our independent streak while we take over the Street Oni. The odds are good that he’ll only appoint Blackfire to the team if we’re on too … which means we’ll need to bump someone else off, and he’s going to want to make that challenge hard on us to keep us in check.

It’d put us in an ugly position of having to disappoint Blackfire or join the HIVE 5 and get saddled with more responsibilities. That's my prediction, anyway.

>Why should I put Blackfire on the team?Because she's an evil sneakier starfire that's smarter, more manipulative and gives you an exoticism and appearance of greater reach given you have an alien princess as part of your death squad. She's also not bad at a fight.

>Why don't you want to join the Hive Five? I DO but not now. Frankly Beating Red X was a fluke and you know how much damage I did to myself against quite frankly a good but not great opponent. I need more training, and I know it. I also need to get my old gang off my back before they call in another assassin on me.

>Why should I let you control a street gang?money income, cheap mooks, testing new gear on disposable assets, and shows that if you fuck with H.I.V.E. you lose big. Also gets your finger into a lot of pies this way.

>>1718030Well he doesn't have too, but we did say we'd put in a good word. That say Blackfire is as strong as Mammoth, more agile by far, harder to hit, far more cunning and persuasive, smarter and just as tough. Also has energy blasts. The only downside is she probably Eats more than he does.

>>1718053These are well reasoned arguments that mostly ignore the motive for why I outlined the situation I have. A powerful asset that you don’t have control of isn’t actually an asset. We’ve already snuck one highly deadly assassin (and a representative of a potential rival organization) into his secret base and then more or less just let her walk about as she pleased. We’re making big ripples in the Academy, but not rising to the bait of the incentives used to motivate the majority of the student body, anybody who sees us as the next big thing is going to notice that.

He really needs to either get a leash on us or cut us loose before we do some damage he can’t curtail. I’m currently wagering he doesn’t want to lose use (there’s always the risk we’ll flip Titan or be more trouble as an independent), but that does mean he needs leverage and the promise of possibly figuring out our past doesn’t seem to be doing it.

>>1718098>Then again, odds are we got caught on cameraThat'd be my guess too, with Black being second.

That said we really dropped the ball with that.

>>1718099Giving us a modicum of real power? I meant eh Hive five is a bunch of glorified sidekicks for hire that are shit as a team because they are trying so hard to be good individually they don't care about the whole. It's the school bitchy alpha clique, which holds nooooooooo interest because we're already past that phase. We've responded well with getting into fights, and learning things about ourself. Those are the carrots.

>>1718099Or if we gain control of the Oni we have a buffer and inroads with a possible all thereby extending the reach of HIVE.

Allows for the trading and snatching up of assets.Also allows for a place for the Shadows' potential problem children to get reeducated.

It's a slight risk with far higher possible dividends for HIVE as an organization.Add in what happens if the reeducated or otherwise sympathetic reach a critical mass?It'd be fairly easy for BB to turn the Shadows into an arm of HIVE by way of mostly bloodless coup over time given what he specializes in.And in the meantime? Possible business partners in a fair few different directions.

>>1718530I'd say Blackfire was practically enamored when she saw you getting the upper-hand against someone like Red X.

As for a write up, what exactly do you mean? Do you want a sentence or two of everyone's thoughts after seeing the fight, or would you rather have a pastebin covering discussions they might've had after?

>>1718706Evidently we're pretty strong, the first time we ever got charged up by electricity it literally juiced up our fucking muscles to prime levels. It's arguable if we were ever in bad shape, or if our body is even capable of not being at max effectiveness; if we're a literal robot, we're probably physically peak human in every way; so tall and jacked but flexible is likely a given.

The real question is what we race we are, defining features, and hygiene. Since we're a robot, race is most likely irrelevant; we could look like fucking anything and totally defy genetics, depending on how we were made. So that's likely a non-question. Hygiene is probably relatively shit, considering we're homeless. The physical ramifications are probably gone, but our hair is probably unkempt and messy as fuck.

As for what we actually look like, if I had to vote I'd say we're at least passably Asian looking because of our connection with the Oni. If I specifically had a choice, I'd go with tanned southern Japanese islander as a base, so basically Mugen mode. Since we're unlikely to actually have a race though, chances are we could likely pass for a whole bunch of shit. I'd say olive skin, slightly angled eyes, but other than that, nothing really discernible. May as well give ourselves a crazy eye color too, because that could be fucking anything. My vote is burnt orange.

>>171900540% give or take, I think, as this was pre-Red X fight.It was early, she was inconvenienced and probably not in an innately playful mood.

Anywhere from 70+% after the fact with a significant possibility of 0% unless asked to join due to "muh warrior respect" and seemingly viewing us as an actually worthwhile person.Which is probably weird for her.inb4 we accidentally make Blackfire spill her spaghetti everywhere.

>>1718706Part of me wants to tell you what I think he looks like, but I really enjoy anons coming up with appearances like >>1718866 is doing. I consider him your character more than mine.I will say that his physique closely resembles Super Boy, however.

>>1719321Man, Blackfire's earning a lot of pointsPoor Kydd, everyone yells at him. Funnily enough, in hindsight, the multiple D's in his name make sense now. They're not a stylistic choice, they're just there because of his stutter repeating them.

I can't help but think Blood's gonna sum up his talking to of Battery with "And don't bring home any more strays."

>>1718866When Blackfyre got some Japanese from the kiss, MC said there were a lot of Japanese in his old gang. That implies to me that MC himself isn't Asian, although I suppose he could still look vaguely Asian.

>>1720951I wasn't necessarily implying he was Asian because he knew some Japanese, I was saying that, based on how gangs work, generally like sticks with like. Gangs are mostly based on race/ethnicity by nature, the chance of getting an opportunity to join drastically decreases and while the odds of someone being a simple victim drastically increase if the person is the wrong race.

Still, a relatively light-hearted superhuman story might lack some of the hardcore racist shit of real life, to be fair. That post was basically positing things based on realistic likelihood. In a world where the main character is a fucking robot, these things aren't hard rules.

>>1722121What I was trying to say is that based on Blackfire's comment, I don't think MC looks too Asian. If he looked Asian, I doubt Blackfire's would have mentioned it as it isn't unusual for Asians to know an Asian language.

>>1731031That's pretty based, anon. Nice work. I can't really decide which hairstyle I prefer as they both have their good and bad. Maybe the bottom with toned down sideburns? Start with top and cut it down later to bottom? I dunno.